Just out of curiosity, why didn't you source an OEM Saginaw column?

 

do you have a drawing or some pictures? Schematic?

 

The wiring coming from the CJ and going to the old column had 3 plugs. One was the wide thin plug that contains the wiring for the turn signals. The other 2 are one black plug with a thick red wire with white chaser and a black wire, and a white plug with a thick yellow wire, a thick red wire, another thick red wire with white chaser and a thin blue wire. I guess what i'd like to know is what do each of those colors coming from the CJ represent? I've been given instructions over the phone on making the connections, I just wanted to make certain before I actually do the wiring. I wasn't planning on replacing the steering column, unfortunately because of space considerations (mainly the space that I take up) I had to go with a tilt column. Which is why i wanna be careful and not burn out the wiring harness.

 

The scrambler I have came with an Ididit tilt column, but it's not the 'factory style' replacement as the key cylinder is tucked under the steering wheel rather than on the side. Given the ignition switch had a different configuration, it also had relays connecting it to the harness via a four wire connector. I've removed both the harness and the column, and can take a closer look at how the two were configured this afternoon and report back with a couple images, but curious, is your column like this one with the same wiring configuration?

Hoover

 

Does this help?

I can see why they use relays as those wires don't look big enough to handle the current passing through those wires.

 

Yes its does help

 

My new column came with 4 plugs connected to 3 relays. One of the plugs is connected to a very thick red wire which I believe ultimately goes to the battery. Another plug is connected to a brown wire. The third plug is connected to a pink and a purple wire. The fourth plug is smaller and contains smaller gauge size wire, colored pink, brown, purple, and red. This connects to a plug coming out of the steering column, so that is pretty self explanatory. My Ididit looks very much like your standard column. Ignition, hazard flasher button and keys on right side. Left side is turn signal and tilt mechanism. Two plugs come out of the CJ wiring harness. Basically Ididit tech service suggested cutting off those plugs or running jumper wires from those plugs to the Ididit relay wiring. White plug from CJ, red to red. Yellow to brown. Red with white tracer to pink. Blue to purple. Not certain what to do with the wiring connected to the black plug. I really, really want to be cautious about hooking this up. I cannot afford any major damaging malfunctions.

 

The red wire on the black plug could be connected to the heavy red wire. It is usually used for electrical things you DONT want on when in the ACC position.

The black wire goes to ground when the key is in the START position. it's used to turn on the Brake warning Light momentarily to show you the light is working.

It's hiding down in the lower right of this schematic.

Is this what you have?

https://www.ididitinc.com/files/pdf/ignitionswitchwiringinstructions.pdf

Black Wire from relay block -Ground
need a good ground point
Purple Wire- Start
Needs to go to Starter or fuse panel to feed the starter
Pink wire - Ignition Coil feed
This will feed power to your coil or to the ignition coil feed on the fuse panel.
Brown Wire - Accessory feed
Attach this to your fuse panel under accessory feed
Red Wire - Ignition Feed
Attach this wire to the Hot side of your Starter solenoid.

Did they tell you to do it something like this?

This is all I can make out of their instructions. :frown2:

 

Not sure if this is helpful or not, given that this is using a painless wiring harness rather than the oem harness, but may help you visualize the relay setup a little better. John, please double check my work! Not sure about the brown wire with the terminal end, and the smaller red/tr I'm assuming is BU lights, etc. And the smaller black wire coming off the relays (top right) is labeled ground-

Hoov

 

I assume the connector in the upper left goes to the column.

I think I would of switched the brown and the pink wires. But it would work.

The black wire from the harness is not used but the black wire in the relay goes to ground.

Where did the brown wire in the lower left come from?

I can't make out where the red wire from the Ididit plug is going.

 

I assume the connector in the upper left goes to the column.

I think I would of switched the brown and the pink wires. But it would work.

The black wire from the harness is not used but the black wire in the relay goes to ground.

Where did the brown wire in the lower left come from?

I can't make out where the red wire from the Ididit plug is going.

The small red wire from the ididit plug (yep, upper left) is spliced with the battery (power in) where it splits to the relays. And not sure about the brown wire, will need to get my DVM out and follow it back to the fuse/bulkhead connector.

I didn't wire this up - it's just how it came to me. The jeep cranked up and ran fine, but the PO had left quite a few circuits undone and many of the connections were a little sketchy, so I yanked the whole thing out and going back with a factory harness and column.

Hoov

 

Guys
Once again thank you for all your help and advice. I really appreciate it. It's great to know there's a place you can go to get some help and folks go out of their way to try to figure out what they can do to help. I'm waiting for a few parts to refurbish the steering shaft and when I get everything working I'll report back.
Again thank you very much.
Jim

 

If I can confirm just one more thing before I start wiring. Each of the two plugs coming out of the wiring harness has a red wire with white tracer. Since they are both colored the same, are they both electrically the same. I'm assuming they supply power to something. In other words if I connect them together will it cause a problem? I just really don't want to see sparks,smoke, or burning wires!

 

Are they the same gauge? If so, it's likely that that you are referring to the plug that would supply power to the OEM tachometer. Look at John's picture in post #6- the plugs that are adjacent to each other (labeled tach plug) should be connected together in the absence of the oem tach. If the oem tach is present, those connectors are separated and then attached to it to supply power.

Hoov

 

since there's no tach, i will connect them together. Sorry for being such a pain. I've come so far working on this Jeep and I'm so close to getting it to where I want it, I'm just a bit apprehensive .
Jim

 

No worries about being apprehensive! Much better to think things through and ask questions upfront before doing something incorrect. Although you can often recover from other mistakes, electrical ones are especially unforgiving.

Hoov

 

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you source an OEM Saginaw column?
I honestly never thought of it. I saw some vehicle restoration videos and they seemed happy with the product. In retrospect it probably would have been a better option to go with the Saginaw column. Originally the Jeep was missing steering column parts so I had to track down the parts and do a slight rebuild, so at least I had some experience with the Saginaw column. While the Ididit column is OK, and it's too early to say I was disappointed, there were a number of issues that I was less than happy with. Not the least of which is the wiring issue.

 

Well, after waiting for some parts to arrive to recondition the steering shaft, I was able to fully install the shaft and steering column. The wiring help you guys provided me worked correctly. I would have to say I wasn't 100% satisfied with the Ididit column. This was not an inexpensive item. The instructions were OK but could have been a little more complete. Since this was supposed to be a direct replacement for a CJ, I don't know why they couldn't have color coded the included wiring harness to match the wiring harness from the CJ. It would have eliminated some questions. I also have a fairly large group of relays that I have to somehow mount up under the dashboard. I believe they could do a better job with the wiring. Mounting the assembly for the horn was another obstacle that needed to be figured out. It was different than the assembly on the old column and I was very concerned about damaging some of the plastic parts when reassembling the horn assembly and steering wheel. Ultimately I had to modify one of my tools to get everything in place. Lastly when you turn the key in the ignition it doesn't want to spring back and wants to keep power to the starter. Hopefully this is just stiffness that will work itself out. So it is what it is. The Ididit column was not cheap and I hope it will be worth the time and expense. Once again thanks to all the people who helped me out with this.
Jim

 

I know this is an older thread, but I am in the same position. Fix or replace the column. Scrap yard columns are non existent in this area for a 83 cj7. Glad to hear the review on the IDIDIT column as it WAS an option. Currently trying to locate a SAGINAW column. Is that a style or an actual name brand? 32", right?

Thanks for the info
irmachinist

 

I know this is an older thread, but I am in the same position. Fix or replace the column. Scrap yard columns are non existent in this area for a 83 cj7. Glad to hear the review on the IDIDIT column as it WAS an option. Currently trying to locate a SAGINAW column. Is that a style or an actual name brand? 32", right?

Thanks for the info
irmachinist

Here's my thread on columns https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/where-buy-tilt-steering-column-4385601/ Someone else will need to verify the 32" but I think that's correct.

 

I need serious help with my column. The turn signal wiring was straight forward, but the ignition came with a box??? It does not match up and I can't find a credible source that explains how to hook it up and Ididit hasn't answered my emails. I have pics, but I can't figure out how to load them.

 

@scottmcpheert welcome to the forum! Plenty of good info and helpful folks here.

First, tell us what your working with? Your avatar shows what appears to be a JK so us here in the CJ forum wouldn't be much help there...but you speak of things like you might be dealing with a CJ of sorts.

Pics are always a bonus, and very helpful, it's the lil "landscape" button below your post text box and can be uploaded directly from your device, easy easy.

Sounds like you might be dealing with something similar to what @ChrisReyn just dealt with so I'll tag him and see if he has some more insight.

Also, don't hesitate to post up a new thread rather than bringing one back from the grave, new information might be out there and old stuff could be invalid at this point.

Good luck,
KDub

 

Sorry, I should have put down this us for a 1983 Jeep CJ7 with a AMC360 and a Holley Sniper EFI. Painless harness is part #10150 and the Ididit column is the Retrofit 1976-1986 CJ Jeep part#1520800051. It has what appears to be a ignition box of sorts and looks to replace the ignition module that is normally on the column itself. I would provide pics if I knew how.

 

I would provide pics if I knew how.

First, thanks for the info, second, ingenious using the avatar to host your Pic 😆 🤣 😂

However, did the graphic I put up on how to post not come through...or did it blend into my post too much and you missed it? Try again, little more "subtle" this time 😉

Most importantly, glad you and Chris are making headway on your issue.

 

I changed my profile pic to the item in question

 

HI Scott.. I replaced my column recently and also recently installed the Painless 10150 harness.

The IDIDIT columns require you to remove the factory column plugs and connect the wires individually from what I have read online. I used a Flaming River column and I didnt have to deal with any of that.
There are some videos on Youtube about making the connections to the column. I dont think that would be any different using the Painless harness than the factory one.
I just read over the IDIDIT instructions for the retro-fit CJ column and they arent great and dont mention an ignition relay at all.

Youre gonna have to call them and get answers from them.. otherwise it will be a game of matching how they marked each circuit to the Painless harness circuit. Do you still have the instruction book from painless that identifies each wire? if not, its online..
Painless's tech support might also be able to help you, they were great to work with for me.

this video is about installing a painless harness, but he connects it to the IDIDiT column and goes through his wiring connections pretty clearly hooking up the column.

Installing Painless 10150 to Ididit Steering Column

 

My column doesn't have anything on the column, just the relay thing like in my profile pic. Think your right and I am gonna have to call them. From what I can tell this box is so you can do a push button start or something (on a CJ?). Hopefully I can figure it out on my next day off, I really want to hear this thing with the new headers & sidepipes. Haven't drove it in over a year.

 

I bieve that box replaces the three separate relays shown in the video.
There’s no column key switch is what you’re saying ? Is there a connector coming off the column?

 

I bieve that box replaces the three separate relays shown in the video.
There’s no column key switch is what you’re saying ? Is there a connector coming off the column?

 

Ok, so you still have the Ididit brown,pink,red and purple wires to connect into the harness. If you look at my previous post, the sheet showing how those connect to the painless harness is there.